Hyderabad: After the global IT outage occurred on Thursday, July 19, causing widespread disruptions across various sectors, the Hyderabad airport has resorted to distribution of handwritten boarding passes to passengers.
A user shared a post on X, claiming that the outage has sent us back to ‘prehistoric’ period.
A passenger who was travelling to Bangalore in an IndiGo flight got a handwritten IndiGo boarding pass for the first time at the Hyderabad airport, owing to the Microsoft and CrowdStrike outage, the user reported.
“The IT outage of Microsoft Azure disrupted flight services. An Indigo passengers Abdul Rehman CEO of Sky7 says The Microsoft/CrowdStrike outage has taken down most airports in India and he go his first hand-written Indigo Boarding pass today at Hyderabad airport as he is travelling to Bangalore,” the tweet read.
There were several similar incidents reported across the Indian airports, wherein the management resorted to distribution of handwritten boarding passes.
Airlines in India report flight disruption over Microsoft outage
Airlines in India on Friday reported that their systems across the network are impacted by an ongoing outage in Microsoft Azure. Flyers are advised to reach out to their respective airlines for information on the flights.
Microsoft Azure, or just Azure, is the cloud computing platform developed by Microsoft. It offers management, access, and development of applications and services to individuals, companies, and governments.
“Our systems across the network are impacted by an ongoing issue with Microsoft Azure, which has resulted in increased wait times at our contact centres and airports. You may experience slower check-ins and longer queues,” Indigo said in an advisory.
“We are all hands on deck and are working relentlessly to restore stability and normalcy. Our digital team is also coordinating closely with Microsoft Azure to resolve these issues swiftly. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time,” the advisory added.
A similar disruption was reported by Akasa Air earlier today. Akasa Air said due to infrastructure issues with the service provider, “some of our online services, including booking, check-in and manage booking services will be temporarily unavailable.”
Currently, Akasa is following manual check-in and boarding processes at the airports and hence requested passengers with immediate travel plans to reach the airport early to check in at the counters.
“We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused and want to assure you that our teams are working with our service provider to resolve the same at the earliest,” Akasa said in an X post.
SpiceJet also reported similar issues.
“We’re currently facing a technical issue in providing updates on flight disruptions. Our team is actively working to resolve this issue. We regret any inconvenience caused and will update you once the issue is resolved. Thank you for your patience and co-operation,” said SpiceJet in a brief statement on X.
Exact details, including number of flights or passengers affected due to the disruption in services, were not available immediately.
Microsoft meanwhile said they were investigating the issue impacting users’ ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services.
“We’re working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact in a more expedient fashion. Our services are still seeing continuous improvements while we continue to take mitigation action,” Microsoft said in its latest update.
‘Manual operations for smooth functioning’
Meanwhile, Union Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu on Friday said measures are being taken to ensure smooth flight movements in India after a Microsoft software outage worldwide caused disruptions in flight services.
Speaking to reporters, Naidu said that as of now there is no problem in India and steps are being taken to prevent any inconvenience for passengers.
“I just spoke to our secretary (Civil Aviation). Steps are being taken to avoid troubles and ensure smooth flight movements in India. Shifting from software to manual system has been undertaken. As of now, there is no problem in India with regard to that. Even if there is a problem, immediate reaction will be there and steps will be taken to avoid inconvenience to passengers,” the minister told reporters.
He said that the software outage caused severe flight problems in the USA as well.
A global Microsoft outage on Friday led to disruptions in airline operations, flight cancellations and long queues of passengers outside airports and at check-in counters.
Services like booking, check-in and boarding processes, including issuance of boarding passes, are being carried out manually, which is taking longer than expected and leading to long queues at airports.
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